EVERETT — The Port of Everett is assured of getting two new commissioners when all the votes are tallied and one of them is likely to be Troy McClelland.
McClelland showed a strong lead Tuesday night, garnering 7,600 votes, or 70 percent of the votes tallied. Opponent Mark Olson, who chose not to seek another term on the Everett City Council, held 28 percent of the vote.
“If it continues our way, I look forward to getting started on the work at hand, creating jobs and fueling the local economy and making sure the port works for the people,” McClelland said.
McClelland and Olson were vying for the District 1 seat on the three-member commission. In District 2, Mark Wolken was the leader in a five-man race.
Wolken, the first candidate anyone can remember to use television commercials for an Everett port race, led Tuesday night with 3,141 votes, or 29.26 percent. Tim Stiger, a retired educator and small businessman, followed with 24.56 percent; retired Boeing Co. worker David Mascarenas had 19.69 percent; firefighter Sean Edwards had 16.54 percent; and businessman Fred Taucher had 9.8 percent.
Wolken said he thought his lead might hold because his first political mailer was delayed, so early voters received their ballots and made their choice without seeing his advertising. He said he followed that up with television ads, more mailings and a lot of door-belling.
“I have a feeling that my vote (margin) will go up,” he said. ”I’m pretty pumped with the results so far.
The port district has about 50,000 registered voters and about half of them usually vote in a commissioner’s election, so the early results could change.
The District 2 race had five candidates because Connie Niva resigned too late to allow for a primary runoff. The winner of the general election will fill out the remaining two years of Niva’s term. She resigned when she moved out of the district.
Wolken, 52, is a business consultant who was economic development director for former Everett Mayor Bill Moore and served on a variety of county boards and committees.
He supports developing a more detailed strategic plan for the port and getting labor groups and the general public more involved in developing it.
“They have a plan, but it’s too broad and not a good way to measure outcomes,” he said.
McClelland, an executive for Fluke Corp., also supports more detailed planning. He said he’d like the port to take a stronger role in regional economic development and in measuring how it’s doing.
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